1. Field of the Invention
Many types of implements for harvesting farm crops are provided with interchangeable headers necessitating quick release mechanism to facilitate easy and rapid attachment and detachment, and various kinds of such mechanisms, in an effort to meet the need, have heretofore been suggested. Numerous forms of locks, latches, hooks, catches, fasteners and the like have had certain degrees of at least partial success; others have failed or not been as trouble-free as might be desired.
One of the primary deficiences of most of the prior mechanisms is their failure to hold the headers in place with such firmness and rigidity as is required to meet the abuses, stresses and unequal loads to which they are subjected during use. The headers must be raised and lowered from time to time, be capable of withstanding all resistances to turning of the implement as it is guided through the field and at the ends of crop rows, and be strong enough to endure bouncing, twisting and vibration as the implement traverses uneven terrain.
Another deficiency of prior attachment mechanisms resides in the degree of difficulty and awkwardness associated with latching and unlatching of the devices used to hold the header and main support portion of the implement in a connected condition. Such prior mechanisms have in some instances required the user to climb onto or under the machine in order to latch or unlatch, to install or remove keepers or pins, or to install or remove bolts in difficult-to-reach places.
2. Description of the Prior Art
We are familiar with U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,599,402 and 3,270,489 involving the use of adapters for mounting and dismounting grain headers such as combine corn heads on forage harvesters employing top and bottom connectors such as clevises, pins, brackets, socket elements and the like. Also, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,154 truncated, cone-shaped male projectors and mating socket members are employed to effect interengagement of abutment surfaces, the suggestions of all such prior art being wholly unlike the construction and manner of operation of the improvements hereinafter to be described.